Auditory Sense

Any part of the mind can be accessed and entered at any point (much like the internet that you can access it at many different sites). This can happen through the ear, the hand, the eye, the nose, etc. (Pert, Candace, PhD. Your Body is Your Subconscious Mind (audiocassettes). CO: Sounds True, 2000.)

You have about 18 seconds to catch another brain’s attention—assuming it is tuned in from the beginning. Data from visual, auditory and tactile stimulation are retained or dropped in 3/4 of a second or less. (Barron, Maria Almendarez. )

Audio recording from inside the womb at the beginning of labor revealed that the sounds produced by the mother can be heard loudly. The musical characteristics of speech – its pitch contours, loudness variations, temp and rhythmic patterning – are well preserved. Early exposure to musical speech sounds may begin the process of learning to speak. After birth, the melodies of speech are also vital to communication between mother and infant. (Robinson, Ken, Sir, PhD. Out of Our Minds. p 130-131. NY: Capstone Publishing Ltd, 2001, 2011)

One way to deal with mixed messages is to literally shut out the sense. Those that cut off the auditory portion are going to hear voices. (Bandler, Richard, and John Grinder. Frogs into Princes. p 53. UT: Real People Press. 1979.)

Researchers at the University of Western Ontario have provided some tips for those who have an auditory learning style or who need to absorb information in that sensory system (hearing or reading) in a specific situation. When listening, sit towards the front of the room so you can hear well and avoid being distracted by sounds others make; repeat information silently to yourself as you take notes. When reading, repeat information either silently or aloud; use rhymes or jingles to remember key points; for terminology, think about how parts of the words sound ; consider studying with a partner, taking turns reading to each other and discussing key concepts. Some auditory learners like to record themselves verbalizing key points and then play the recording back as a rehearsal strategy. (Source)

Change blindness refers to the frequent inability of your visual system to detect alterations to something staring you right in the face. Since far more information lands on your eyes than you can possibly analyze, the brain screens visual stimuli using bottom-up or top-down attentiveness. Bottom-up (e.g., wildly waving hand) can get your attention because it sticks out. Top-down is a volitional act where you turn your “spotlight” of attention toward something specific (e.g., finding your suitcase on an airline baggage carousel). (Angier, Natalie. Blind to Change, Even as It Stares Us in the Face. April 2008.)

Less than 2% of the population has some form of color blindness in the U.S. (National Geographic. “The Smell Survey, 1.5 million participants.”) (Gilbert, Avery N., and Charles J. Wysocki. p 514. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, October 1987.)

The X chromosome carries all genes for red/green color vision. Only 1 in 230 females is born with red/green color blindness; 1 of 8 males has some red/green color vision deficiency. (Fisher, Helen, PhD. The First Sex. p 90-91. NY:Random House, 1999.)

The human body does, in fact, give off certain radiations (e.g., electromagnetic from the electrical activity of the nerves, sonic waves from physical actions within the body, and chemical emissions that may be detected at times as body odors. (Nickell, Joe. Real-life X-files Investigating the Paranormal. p 42. Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.)

Exposure to stimulation (e.g., sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) lead to growth and development of motor, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social functioning. (Harris, Maureen. Music and the Young Mind. p vii, xi. NY:MENC with Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2009.)

Hearing, a small part of vision, touch, and taste all enter the brain through the brainstem and are passed up to the thalamus. (Ratey, John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. p 63. NY:Vintage Books, 2002.)

Thalamus: directs attention and switches sensory input on and off. Except for olfactory signals, sensory stimuli go through the thalamus that directs the incoming information to the appropriate portion of the cortex for further processing. (Carter, Rita. Exploring Consciousness. p 11, 29, 115. CA:University of California Press, 2002.)

Most sensory information from the outside world enters the lower brain stem. The brain stem’s thalamus then classifies this information (visual, auditory) and relays it to the appropriate part of the cortex. Incoming information may be amplified or reduced as it passes through the Thalamus. (Ornstein, Robert, PhD. The Roots of the Self. p 52-53. NY:HarperCollins Publishing, 1995.)

Sensual experience (e.g., auditory, visual, tactile, and olfactory) typically travels first to the neocortex for analysis. When accompanied by a strong emotional impact, they may go directly to the amygdala (bypassing conscious choice) which mobilizes the organisms for fight or flight. All of this can happen in an instant—without input from rational processing by the neocortex. (Karr-Morse, Robin, and Meredith S. Wiley. Ghosts from the Nursery. p 40. NY:Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997.)

In most people (97%), both Broca's area (spoken speech) and Wernicke's area (heard speech) are found in only the left hemisphere of the brain. (Chulder, Dr. Eric. The Brain and Communication. Think Quest.)

Conscious thought occurs in the cerebral layer. The pre-frontal cortex handles most of our decision making, and helps to process a variety of sensory stimuli. The other two brain layers are the brain stem and the limbic system. (Gurian, Michael, and Patricia Henley with Terry Trueman. Boys and Girls Learn Differently! p 17-20. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company, 2001.)

The prefrontal systems of the brain are involved in the volitional control of conscious sensory experience. (Schwartz, Jeffrey M., MD, and Sharon Begley.The Mind & the Brain. p 312-315. NY:Regan Books, 2002.)

The five senses of the left hemisphere (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) correspond to senses of the right hemisphere. However, right-brain senses are not the senses of sight and hearing in the so-called normal manner, Rather they involve the ability to see, hear, and sense things through waves translated into images. Thus includes the ability to retain complete image of things seen at a glance in the memory, serving as the receptacle for inspiration and the site of expression for image abundant creativity, and the abilities to visualize images and the realization of those images physically. (Loh, Andrew. Brain Development Centers.)

The visual brain can reorganize in small ways in as little as thirty minutes. (Ratey, John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. p 52. NY:Vintage Books, 2002.)

In their early years, children use all their senses to learn about the world. They handle a new object, look at it from all sides, listen to any sound it makes, smell it, and often put it in their tongue. (Williams, Linda. Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind. p 144-145. CA: Touchstone Books: 1986.)

Color is the brain’s neural interpretation of various light frequencies. The eye and the visual system in the brain help with the differentiation. (Newberg, Andrew, MD., and Mark Robert Waldman. Why We Believe What We Believe. p 56. NY:Free Press, 2006.)

Prisoners in red and yellow wings were more inclined to violence than those in the blue and green wings. Yellow is highly stimulating—a possible relationship between violent street crime and sodium yellow street lighting. (Graham, Helen. Discover ColorTherapy. p 13. CA:Ulysses Press, 1998.)

When the content of the presentation has emotional significance, the use of a colored background in overhead transparencies/PowerPoints can influence the brains of listeners to go to a subconscious memory (e.g., abuse or trauma), involving that color. Even if the memory is positive it can distract the brain from absorbing information from the current presentation. (Discussion with brain researchers.)

Pink has been found to have a tranquilizing and calming effect within minutes of exposure. People cannot be aggressive even if they want to because the color pink saps their energy. (Graham, Helen. Discover Color Therapy. p 13. CA: Ulysses Press, 1998.)

Most people spend at least 75% of waking time communicating with others. Mehrabian (1967 study) estimates the meaning of the message is conveyed: 7% by verbal cues; 38% by vocal cues; and 55% by nonverbals (facial expressions). Percentages can be altered by a variety of factors. (Nonverbal Communication. Article. website)

CTA requires that the neural taste and the nausea-producing stimulus come together synaptically at individual neurons. The parabrachial nucleus is likely involved in the conditioning of taste by nausea. Other areas may be involved as well (e.g., damage to the cortical taste area and the central amygdala has been shown to interfere with CTA). (LeDoux, Joseph. Synaptic Self. p 126-127. NY: Penguin Books, 2002.)

Studies from before the 70’s have revealed the importance of nonverbals in conveying the meaning of the message in communication (e.g., 55% from nonverbals per Mehrabian, A. and R. Ferris in 1967). The match between one’s verbal and non-verbal communication indicates the level of congruency. (James, Tad. What is NLP? 2005. Website)

The pre-frontal portions of the brain play a role in the “volitional control of conscious sensory experience.” (Schwartz, Jeffrey M., MD, and Sharon Begley. The Mind & the Brain. p 313-315. NY:Regan Books, 2002.)

It takes one thousandth of a second for sight, sound, smell, emotion, thought to travel down a nerve ending to your brain. It takes 999 thousandths of a second more for what you heard or read to be relayed to your conscious mind. (Stine, Jean Marie. Double Your brain Power. p 79-80. NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997.)

Consciousness of objects is enhanced when we receive information about them from more than one sense (e.g., a flash of light is more likely to be registered if the observer is simultaneously touched on the same side of the body from which the light shines). (Carter, Rita. Exploring Consciousness. p 267-269. CA: University of California Press, 2002.)

The sensory and motor systems are part of both the brain and body, and their proper development is a prerequisite to successful cognitive functioning. The senses are the means by which we take in information. (Williams, Linda. Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind. p 144-145. CA: Touchstone Books: 1986.)

You can also translate between representational systems with couples. Examples of kinesthetic male partnered with a visual female. (Bandler, Richard, and John Grinder. Frogs into Princes. p 4. UT: Real People Press. 1979.)

Jump-start creativity by using your senses. If auditory, open or close your ears. If visual, close eyes and create images in your head/concentrate on other senses, or open your eyes and become aware of specifics in your surroundings. (Greenwood-Robinson, Maggie, PhD. 20/20 Thinking. p 144-145. NY: Avery, Putnam Special Markets, 2003.)

Most sensory input to the brain crosses over from the incoming side to the opposite hemisphere for processing. Once the information enters one hemisphere it is swiftly sent on to the other via the corpus callosum. (Carter, Rita, Ed. Mapping the Mind. p 35. CA: University of California Press, 1999.)

Known as the cuddle hormone, oxytocin is released when a person is cuddled or the skin is gently stoked. (Pease, Barbara and Allan. Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps. p 236-238. NY: Broadway Books, 1998.)

After birth the brain wires up differently in different cultures; even their visual systems are not exactly the same (e.g., people who grow up in forests lack depth perception that others have). You can remake yourself in adulthood to some degree, but can never abandon your inherent nature. (Ornstein, Robert, PhD. The Roots of the Self. p 12. NY: HarperCollins Publishing, 1995.)

At any given moment, the five senses are taking in more than 10,000,000 pieces of information. The eyes alone receive and send over 10,000,000 signal to the brain each second. People can process consciously about 40 pieces of information per second. (Wilson, Timothy D. Strangers to Ourselves. p 24. England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.)

Ear canals in boys undergo growth spurts that can cause a temporary form of deafness, particularly as they approach puberty. They are equipped for more effective seeing than hearing. (Pease, Barbara and Allan. Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps. p 31-32. NY: Broadway Books, 1998.)

The decision about what sensory information travels to your brain and what gets filtered out depends on what signals the receptors are receiving from the peptides. (Pert, Candace, PhD. Molecules of Emotion. p 146-147. NY:Scribner, 1997.)

By 4 months of age, babies totally deprived of vision from birth are blind. Children who grow up alone or in the wild without exposure to language until age ten cannot ever learn to speak. (Karr-Morse, Robin, and Meredith S. Wiley. Ghosts from the Nursery. p 22-23. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997.)

The same area of the brain that responds to offensive tastes—the anterior insula—is also activated when one person sees another make a face showing disgust. The brain combines senses to improve your chances for ongoing existence. (Ratey, John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. p 75. NY: Vintage Books, 2002.)

Infants with recurring middle ear infections will not have normal development of their neurons for sound. This is one reason why infants with repeated middle ear infections do poorly in language and literacy in later life. The sensitive periods or plasticity for most lower level neural pathway circuits end relatively early in life, often by 4 years of age. In contrast, sensitive periods for some high level circuits remain open (plastic) for a longer period. This may be a reason why, with proper treatment of dyslexia, normal neural pathways can be established. (Mustard, J. Fraser, MD. Early Childhood Development: How does experience in early life affect brain development? 2008. p. 13.)

Studies: When you engage not only the analytical mind but also emotions and intuition, your senses and emotional intelligence enable you to scan in moments through hundreds of possible choices or scenarios to arrive at the best solution in a matter of seconds instead of hours—the answer will be as good or better than if you relied solely on intellect. (Cooper, Robert K., PhD., and Ayman Sawaf.Executive EQ. p xii-xiii . NY: Grosset/Putnam 1997.)

Researchers at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, have identified spatial signatures of emotion in the primary auditory cortex (temporal lobes at the side of the brain responsible helping to decode the sensation of sound). This area reacts more strongly to anger, joy, relief, and sadness than to neutrality. These findings may help researchers to better understand conditions such as schizophrenia, autism, and even depression, since reading emotions is critical to good social skills. (Fisher, Helen. Emotional Speech Leaves Signature on the Brain. NewScientist, 2009.)

The electrical energy from your heart is transmitted to another person’s brain when you touch that person, and vice versa. We affect each other at the most basic electromagnetic level. This has huge social implications. (Childre, Doc and Howard Martin. The HeartMath Solution. p 159-160. CA: Harper SF, 1999.)

Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the hormone estrogen plays a pivotal role in how the brain processes sounds, in the way in which it extracts and interprets auditory information. There needs to be a “right balance” of this hormone for the brain to not only process the sounds but also to lay down memories of the sounds. (Estrogen Controls How the Brain Processes Sound. Psysorg.com, 2009.)

The eye pupil tends to enlarge when person is confronted with a pleasant stimulus. (e.g., heart uses the brain to help it take in energy). Also when the heart is energetically opening up to either absorb the beauty of a positive info-energetic event or to become more alert of negative energy around it. (Pearsall, Paul, PhD. The Heart’s Code. p 50-51. NY: Broadway Books, 1998.)

Because they are more sensitive to auditory stimuli, females become fatigued more readily in a noisy environment. Males don’t, but they do become fatigued more readily in a visually chaotic environment. (Howard, Pierce J., PhD. The Owner’s Manual for the Brain. p 700-706. GA: Bard Press, 1994, 2000.)

The first embryonic cells are sound sensitive, and by and one half months in the womb, a baby’s auditory system is virtually complete. Every cell in the body is influenced by the energy reflected in sound waves. (Pearsall, Paul, PhD. The Heart’s Code. p 110. NY: Broadway Books, 1998.)

The nervous system cannot take everything in; rather it scans the outer world for material that it is prepared to accept due to its wiring, own internal patterns, and past experience. (Pert, Candace, PhD. Molecules of Emotion. p 146-147. NY: Scribner, 1997.)

Study by Dr. Jenkins, Director of the Clymer Health Clinic in Pennsylvania: A room lighted with florescent lighting is less than on-tenth as bright as the area under a tree on a bright sunny day. (Colby, Barbara, ASID. Color & Light: Influences and Impact. p 75. CA:Barbara Colby, 1990.)

All physiological stimuli evoke responses over a wide area of the frontal cortex (perhaps 1% of the total excitable tissue in any particular area)…the human frontal lobes are an integral part of the sensory system. (Luria, A. R., edited by K. H. Pribram. Psychopahysiology of the Frontal Lobes. p 114. NY:Academic Press, 1973.)

Girls take in more sensory data than boys. On average, they hear better, smell better, and take in more information through fingertips and skin. (Gurian, Michael, and Patricia Henley with Terry Trueman. Boys and Girls Learn Differently! p 27. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company, 2001.)

At two months of age, boys are particularly attracted to visual stimuli, a tendency that seems to persist throughout life. Girls respond more to auditory stimuli. This also persists throughout life. (Stump, Jane Barr, PhD. What’s the Difference? p 33. NY: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1985.)

Women have more finely tuned sensory skills than men. Women have superior sensitivity in differentiating tone changes in voice volume and pitch, and at differentiating sounds. Men are better at identifying where the sounds are coming from. (Pease, Barbara and Allan. Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps. p 31-32. NY: Broadway Books, 1998.)

There is evidence to suggest that fetus can hear, see, taste, feel, and experience movement throughout the last half of pregnancy, and that these capabilities don’t change dramatically at the moment of birth. (Ludington-Hoe, Susan, PhD, with Susan K. Golant. How to Have a Smarter Baby. p 15. NY: Bantam Books, 1985.)

The brain has neural receptions for various colors including black and white – there are none for gray. Seeing the color gray is simply a thought. (Newberg, Andrew, MD., and Mark Robert Waldman. Why We Believe What We Believe. p 57. NY: Free Press, 2006.)

The majority of hallucinations (in the U.S.A.) are auditory, because people in this culture do not pay much attention to the auditory system. In other cultures, hallucinations tend to cluster in other representational systems. (Bandler,Richard, and John Grinder. Frogs into Princes. p 50. UT: Real People Press. 1979.)

Prenatal hearing, learning, and behavioral responses to a melody played earlier in pregnancy, occurred before or at the beginning of the third trimester. After birth, behavioral responses were specific to the tone to which the fetus had been exposure during gestation. (Harris, Maureen. Music and the Young Mind. p 2-3. NY: MENC with Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2009.)

The ability to hear higher frequency ranges decreases with age (e.g., speak in a lower register to be better heard by the elderly). (Dychtwald, Ken, PhD, and Joe Flower. Age Wave. p 316-318. NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.)

Infants with recurring middle ear infections will not have normal development of their neurons for sound. This is one reason why infants with repeated middle ear infections do poorly in language and literacy in later life. The sensitive periods or plasticity for most lower level neural pathway circuits end relatively early in life, often by 4 years of age. In contrast, sensitive periods for some high level circuits remain open (plastic) for a longer period. This may be a reason why, with proper treatment of dyslexia, normal neural pathways can be established. (Mustard, J. Fraser, MD. Early Childhood Development: How does experience in early life affect brain development? 2008. p. 13.)

The left hemisphere processes words, definitions, and language. The right hemisphere processes inflection, tonality, tempo, and volume of communication. Female brain processes both language and feelings at the same time far more efficiently than the male brain. (Jensen, Eric. Brain-Based Learning (Revised). p 16-19. CA: The Brain Store, 2005.)

Males tend to hear in one ear better than the other. Females hear as well with both ears and tend to hear more data. (Gurian, Michael. The Wonder of Boys. p 16-19. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1996.)

Study at University of Sheffield and published in the journal Neurolmage: males processed female voices in the auditory part of the brain that processes music (rather than in Wernicke’s area as is used for processing male voices). The female voice is more difficult for males to listen to as compared to a male voice. (Source.)

On average, females have superior hearing and are better at hearing high sounds, beginning in girlhood and increasing with age. They are more sensitive to loud noises. (Fisher, Helen, PhD. The First Sex. p 85-87. NY:Random House, 1999.)

When a child is deprived of hearing human voices, the connections that allow brain cells to process sound, and consequently language, can become ineffectual. The cells appear to be scrambled rather than appearing in neat columns characteristic of normal brain structure. (Karr-Morse, Robin, and Meredith S. Wiley. Ghosts from the Nursery. p 22-23. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997.)

The right ear (connected with the left hemisphere) has an advantage for listening to language sounds. The complementarity of right and left ears/hemispheres permits the creative use of speech and language. (Tomatis, Alfred A, M.D. Editor Timothy M. Gilmore, PhD, et al. About the Tomatis Method. p 18-20. Canada: Listening Centre Press, 1989.)

The five senses of the left hemisphere (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) correspond to senses of the right hemisphere. However, right-brain senses are not the senses of sight and hearing in the so-called normal manner. Rather they involve the ability to see, hear, and sense things through waves translated into images. Thus includes the ability to retain complete image of things seen at a glance in the memory, serving as the receptacle for inspiration and the site of expression for image abundant creativity, and the abilities to visualize images and the realization of those images physically. (Loh, Andrew. Brain Development Centers.)

The locations of brain cells sensitive to the chemicals involved in the regulation of hunger and thirst are most likely distributed in a system within the core brain stem, rather than being concentrated in a single “center,” although nodes in the system can be identified. (Pribram, Karl H. Languages of the Brain. p 184-186. NJ: Prentice-hall, Inc., 1971.)

A state that can occur spontaneously in individuals engage in critical situations (e.g., downhill skier in a race, fighter pilot in a skirmish) who must make instantaneous decision based upon processing large amounts of sensory information. (Newberg, Andrew, MD, et al. Why God Won’t Go Away. p 40-42. NY: Ballantine Books, 2001.)

The five senses directly affect presence of mind. The brain is constantly taking in sensory data as the afferent nerves send visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and gustatory messages. These messages vie for attention with other mental activities such as creativity, analysis, and inspection, all of which can be interrupted by sensory data. (Howard, Pierce J., PhD. The Owner’s Manual for the Brain. p 700-701. GA: Bard Press, 1994, 2000.)

Hearing, a small part of vision, touch, and taste all enter the brain through the brainstem and are passed up to the thalamus. (Ratey, John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. p 63. NY: Vintage Books, 2002.)

On average, girls take in more sensory data, hear better, smell better, and take in more information through fingertips and skin than do boys. (Gurian, Michael, and Patricia Henley with Terry Trueman. Boys and Girls Learn Differently! p 26-28. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company, 2001.)

Visual images are usually perceived as more intense. When listening (as opposed to seeing images), you don’t receive exposure to images that you will see repeatedly in your head. (Restak, Richard, MD. The New Brain. p 74-75. PA: Rodale, 2003.)

The sixth sense is intuitive flow, a feeling of spontaneous challenge and elation, and on occasion, rapture. You perform at a very high level of alertness and accomplishment. There is evidence people can choose to experience this state more frequently but most don’t. (Cooper, Robert K., PhD., and Ayman Sawaf. Executive EQ. p 209-212. NY: Grosset/Putnam 1997.)

Isolating each sense and learning to use it by itself can help you to more effectively use all the sensory systems together. This can enhance your memory. (Einberger, Kirstin, and Sellick Janelle, MS. Strengthen Your Mind. p 7. MD: Health Professions Press, 2007.)

When your conscious mind has a belief that is in conflict with “truth” previously stored in the subconscious mind, the intellectual conflict expresses itself as a weakening of the body’s muscles. (Lipton, Bruce, PhD. The Biology of Belief. p 158-160. CA: Mountain of Love / Elite Books, 2005.)

The kinesthetic and tactile learning are sometimes linked together although they actually involve different systems. The tactile system involves receptors in the skin; the kinesthetic system registers movement (its receptors in the muscle and tendons provide information on body movement. (Williams, Linda. Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind. p 150-151. CA: Touchstone Books: 1986.)

For kinesthetic learners, physical movement is the mode of learning. Unfortunately children and adults who use kinesthesia as their primary source of learning are often labeled as hyperactive. (Koch, Liz. Whole Brain learning is a new frontier for science. Santa Cruz Style, May 7, 2005.)

Infants exposed to two languages (e.g., Japanese and English) in the first seven to eight months of life will easily develop the neuron functions that can differentiate the sounds of the two languages. This sets a base for fluent mastery of both languages without an accent later in development. Individuals who develop capability for two languages early in life have a larger left temporal hemisphere of the brain than do individuals with monolingual backgrounds. This may be, in part, an explanation of why those individuals can also more easily master other languages later in life. (Mustard, J. Fraser, MD. Early Childhood Development: How does experience in early life affect brain development? p 12. 2008.)

Children who grow up alone or in the wild without exposure to language until age ten rarely if ever learn to speak. (Karr-Morse, Robin, and Meredith S. Wiley.Ghosts from the Nursery. p 22-23. NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997.)

Your senses determine how you perceive the world, and a person’s picture of the world. Some students work well at the back of the classroom. Others are so distracted by the students between themselves and the teacher that they can’t pay attention due to the way their sensory systems function. (Williams, Linda.Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind. p 49-55. CA: Touchstone Books: 1986.)

Some school children have problems learning due to a mismatch between the primary sensory preference of the teacher and that of the child. If neither has the flexibility to adjust, no learning occurs. A child can be labeled educationally handicapped one year and do fine the next year with a different teacher. (Bandler, Richard, and John Grinder. Frogs into Princes. p 40. UT: Real People Press. 1979.)

The auditory, visual, and tactile-kinesthetic senses form the major learning modalities, the primary pathways by which information is taken in. (Williams, Linda. Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind. p 145-146. CA: Touchstone Books, 1986.)

Are among the most sensitive parts of the body, even more sensitive than the fingertips. (Katz, Lawrence C., PhD and Manning Rubin. Keep Your Brain Alive. p 113. NY: Workman Publishing Company, Inc., 1999.)

Some may have difficulty listening for information in school or conversation because, in childhood, they learned how to screen out unpleasant human voices. (Healy, Jane M., PhD. Your Child’s Growing Mind. p 34-35. NY: Doubleday, 1987, 1989.)

Listening to music is a fantastically complex mental process, since it involves both translating the various sound waves into a meaningful pattern, and recognizing and responding to the emotional content of the piece. (Greenfield, Susan, con. Ed. Brain Power. p 61. MA: The Ivy Press Limited, 1999.)

Study at University of Sheffield and published in the journal Neurolmage: males processed female voices in the auditory part of the brain that processes music (rather than in Wernicke’s area as is used for processing male voices). The female voice is more difficult for males to listen to as compared to a male voice. (Website.)

On average, females have superior hearing and are better at hearing high sounds, beginning in girlhood and increasing with age. They are more sensitive to loud noises. (Fisher, Helen, PhD. The First Sex. p 85-87. NY: Random House, 1999.)

On average, girls take in more sensory data, hear better, smell better, and take in more information through fingertips and skin than do boys. (Gurian, Michael, and Patricia Henley with Terry Trueman. Boys and Girls Learn Differently! p 26-28. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company, 2001.)

Males tend to hear in one ear better than the other. Females hear as well with both ears and tend to hear more data. (Gurian, Michael. The Wonder of Boys. p 16-19. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1996.)

By listening to the pitch, inflection, lilt, and cadence of a person’s words (e.g., the music of speech), human beings distinguish sounds that are essential to sophisticated communication. Females have a biological edge in this area. (Fisher, Helen, PhD. The First Sex. p 60. NY: Random House, 1999.)

At two months of age, boys are particularly attracted to visual stimuli, a tendency that seems to persist throughout life. Girls respond more to auditory stimuli. This also persists throughout life. (Stump, Jane Barr, PhD. What’s the Difference? p 33. NY: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1985.)

Because they are more sensitive to auditory stimuli, females become fatigued more readily in a noisy environment. Males don’t, but they do become fatigued more readily in a visually chaotic environment. (Howard, Pierce J., PhD. The Owner’s Manual for the Brain. p 700-706. GA: Bard Press, 1994, 2000.)

The left hemisphere processes words, definitions, and language. The right hemisphere processes inflection, tonality, tempo, and volume of communication. The female brain processes both language and feelings at the same time far more efficiently than the male brain. (Jensen, Eric. Brain-Based Learning (Revised). p 16-19. CA: The Brain Store, 2005.)

Humans appear to be the only species that spontaneously move in response to hearing music, probably due to the interplay between the auditory system (hearing) and motor system (movement). Studies have shown that just thinking about tapping out a rhythm lights up portions of the brain’s motor system. Even when people listen to music without moving any portion of the body, there is activity in brain regions that control movement. (Harris, Maureen. Music and the Young Mind. p 11-12. NY: MENC with Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2009.)

Musicians are at risk for deafness due to loud music. Sixty percent of inductees into the rock and roll Hall of Fame have lost hearing due to loud music. Thirty-seven percent of rock musicians are partially deaf. Intense noise or chronic exposure to loud sound damages hair cells in the inner ear as well as in the inferior colliculus, the part of the brain where neurons carrying impulses from the hair cells make their first connection. Brain cells die from overstimulation and then astrocytes digest away the damaged synapses. (Fields, R. Douglas, PhD. The Other Brain. p. 98-100. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2009.)

Researchers at the University College London) have identified and reported a rare condition known as phonagnosia. Most people were born with the ability to learn to recognize people by the sound of their voices. But apparently not all! Dr Brad Duchaine, co-author of a case study reported in the online issue of the journal Neuropsychologia, says: "Occasionally, people have experienced problems recognizing voices following a stroke or brain damage, but this is the first documented case of someone growing up with this condition." In all likelihood, there are others on this planet with this condition.... (Source)

Visual images are usually more intense. With radio, people don’t receive exposure to images that they will see repeatedly in their heads. (Restak, Richard, MD. The New Brain. p 74-75. PA:Rodale, 2003.)

Based on baboon studies by Jonathan Grainger of CNRS and Aix-Marseille University in France, the ability to read may involve simple object-identification skills rather than on more advanced linguistic skills. Even though baboons do not use language, they can learn to distinguish real words from nonsense. The baboons probably identified the English words by using orthographic information—the identity and position of the letters within the word. The hope is that this and similar studies may help to uncover the causes of reading disabilities such as dyslexia.(Haghighat, Leila. Baboons can learn to recognize words, Nature, 2012. Granger, Jonathan. Orthographic Processing in Baboons (Papio papio), Science, 2012. Platt, Michael L., Geoffrey K. Adams, Monkey See, Monkey Read, Science; 2012.)

Studies by Dr. Olivier Collignon of the University of Montreal’s Saint-Justine Hospital Research Centre and Dr. Franco Lepore of the Centre for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognition have built on other studies to show that the brain can rewire itself to process sounds as part of a person's space perception (when ability to process sight is diminished). The visual cortex is the part of the brain that normally works with your eyes to process vision and space perception. The brains of individuals who are blind have a heightened ability to process sounds as part of their space perception. (Source)

Over activity in the speech area known as Wernicke’s area can trigger auditory hallucinations (e.g., the illusion that internally generated thoughts are actually real voices coming from outside the brain). Disturbances in the occipital lobes (e.g., visual system) can contribute to difficulty in interpreting complex images, recognizing motion, and interpreting emotions on the faces of other individuals. (The Brain in Schizophrenia.)

Some children may learn how to screen out excessive or unpleasant human voices. They then have trouble later on when they need to listen for information in school or conversation. (Healy, Jane M., PhD. Your Child’s Growing Mind. p 35. NY:Doubleday, 1987.)

Sensory Processing Disorder is a common but often misdiagnosed condition. In SPD, the central nervous system misinterprets messages that are received from the senses. The authors include information from recent research on vision and hearing deficits, motor skill problems, nutrition and picky eaters, ADHA, autism, and other related disorders. (Kranowitz, Carol, and Lucy Jane Miller. The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder, Revised Edition. NY:Perigee Trade, 2006.)

This website provides examples of signs and symptoms that might prompt a parent or teacher to obtain professional evaluation for a child who might have a SPD, including signs for:

Sound is the most prenatally usable stimulus (e.g., fetus is exposed to mother’s voice, breathing, and movements, in addition to many environmental sounds). Sounds begin to be processed between the 16th and 20th weeks of gestation. The fetal auditory system has reached adult abilities of development by birth. (Harris, Maureen. Music and the Young Mind. p 1-2. NY: MENC with Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2009.)

Researchers have long distinguished between noise and sound. Generally, noise is seen as a psychological concept defined as sound that is subjectively perceived as undesirable because it is unpleasant or interferes with important activities. (Baker, Mary Anne, ed. Sex Differences in Human Performance. p 90. NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1987.)

Every cell in the body registers and is influenced by the energy reflected in sound waves. Since sound is energy and energy contains information, the natural acoustical ability of cells allows them to remember the tones of your life. (Pearsall, Paul, PhD. The Heart’s Code. p 110. NY: Broadway Books, 1998.)

Sound has two basic characteristics: loudness, which depends on the size of the sound waves, and pitch, which depends on their frequency. Most acoustic information, such as speech or music, is carried by changes in the amplitude (loudness) and frequency (pitch) of sound waves. (Greenfield, Susan, con. Ed.Brain Power. p 60. MA: The Ivy Press Limited, 1999.)

By listening to the pitch, inflection, lilt, and cadence of a person’s words (e.g., the music of speech), human beings distinguish sounds that are essential to sophisticated communication. Females have a biological edge in this area. (Fisher, Helen, PhD. The First Sex. p 60. NY: Random House, 1999.)

More than 100 of the body’s muscles are used when a person is speaking. (Tomatis, Alfred A, M.D. Editor Timothy M. Gilmore, PhD, et al. About the Tomatis Method. p 70-73. Canada: Listening Centre Press, 1989.)

Speaking effectively requires a fine balance between the left and right hemispheres. Speakers who hold their audience’s attention usually shift from side to side, alternating between precise, logical speech in rapid crisp style, and some personal comment, a joke, or a dramatic experience in an animated expressive style. (Wonder, Jacquelyn, and Priscilla Donovan. Whole Brain Thinking. p 166. NY: Ballantine Books, 1984.)

Studies at McGill University: When human beings are learning to talk, the brain receives at least two types of feedback information. One type involves auditory information from the sound of the person’s own voice. The other involves information from receptors located in the skin (the largest organ of the body) and in the muscles. (Breakthrough in understanding of speech offers hope to the deaf.Sept., 2008. (Source)

This term means "speaking the the stomach." It describes the art of shifting sound toward a visual target and has been used for eons. At the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece, this technique was used to give voice to devine revelations and prophecy supposedly emanating from the dead. (Macknik, Stephen L. PhD and Susana Martinez-Conde PhD. Sleights of Mind. p 1001-110. NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2010.)